Midnight Assault [Africatastrophe Act II]

The nighttime is when the monsters came out and Safira would happy adhere to that. From a practical standpoint Safira knew that the veil of darkness was among the best times to launch a surprise attack, this would be no different despite the fact she admired Kizuna's audacious attitude to attack in broad daylight but she was here to succeed where the other had failed.To accomplish that she had no qualms about using every single possible advantage she could acquire in drawing out a successful victory.

"Come on Kizuna. Let's wake up our fellow hollows and make this a real pincer attack."

She declared while gathering her reiatsu into a giant ball of sickly green energy before launching it at one of the Vandenreich's encampments near the hole. The man-sized ball of energy colliding at high speed with the encampment before vapourising the landscape and scarring it. By the time the dust settled she had razed a large chunk of the landscape leaving a new crater which sank into the side of the hole.

"I'm the White Serpent that announces the End. Nahash! Hunters of hollows, it is time to be hunted for your hubris now."

Safira might've exaggerated a little bit. She was playing the part of a pretender, obscuring her identity under the veil of Eliane's visage and so she was eager to make a display of this false identity she flamboyantly declared as such to the chaos that she had reaped with her attack.

Now it was up to Kizuna to follow suit, and hopefully her little spectacle would draw far more attention. Assuming that Criella was good for her word she at least had the benefit of guaranteeing a Vasto Lorde to wreck some chaos amongst these two groups. One way or another she'd crack this hole right open and let the monsters come out and play.

For once, Kizuna's expression and general countenance were stern and serious, and she gazed downward at the moonlit ground without any of her usual amusement. There wasn't anything bothering her, and nothing was actively wrong. But she remembered her last bout here, and with everything that had happened, she was only more intensely committed to freeing whatever was down there. She wanted to know what would happen. She had to know what would happen.

Other Arrancar might have waited for the battle to intensify before they utilized their resurreccion, but Kizuna was here to cause as much mayhem as possible. She raised one hand in front of her face, and rather than speaking her release in its usual bombastic way, her voice quaked across the area with a low menace, a reminder to every shinigami who had been stationed here for her last visit.

"Change. Emperador Primera."

No sooner had her release's ring formed than it was already floating in front of her, and Kizuna bit her thumb before holding both hands in front of her, blood-red energy coalescing between her palms before she spoke out yet again.

"Spark Array."

The Gran Rey Cero rocketed out from between her hands, shooting through her resurreccion and becoming radically more powerful as it did so. No sooner had it been empowered, however, than it immediately split into dozens upon dozens of smaller beams, all raining down onto the ground below, the dark of night painted a brilliant crimson by the influx of energy.

It was a good start.

Sirens blared, alarms sang, and a cacophony of cries lulled Alastair out of his meditative trance. It was fortunate that he was not quite sleeping, as waking up to this would have been truly distressing, but he wasted no time in activating his earpiece and joining the main communication channel. Immediately, he was overwhelmed by the countless damage reports and requests for medical personnel that were flooding the channel. It appeared that something quite destructive had just hit their western encampment, but there was more than that. The hole was coming alive again, another surge of activity timed so well that it was almost certainly a coordinated strike with those on the outside. With an errant sigh, he pushed himself to his feet and strapped his swordbelt to his hip. He would have to video call Reida later. This was what they had been waiting for, after all.

Moving quickly across the base, darting through the chaos with an expertise that only came from having lived through half a dozen such crises before, he arrived on the scene of this external attack in a matter of seconds. His battlefield had been decided, here was where he would stand, and he would trust in his allies to deal with those other monsters that were no doubt spewing forth from the hole once more.

Standing amidst the dust and rubble of their combined first strike, Falke burst into life in Alastair's hand as he knocked the first Heilig Pfiel and took aim. Looking up at the two figures that towered above him, a platform of reishi gathered at his feet to raise him upwards and make his presence known. Even in the dark of night, his eyes burned with a heated passion that would not tolerate such rampant death and destruction. Steel to his tone that only furthered conveyed his intensity.

"You have this one chance to lay down your arms and surrender."

Of the two, it was hard to gauge exactly which was more dangerous in this first instance. So his weapon drifted towards that ominous ring that hovered before Kizuna, if either of them tried anything then he would launch an attack at that first to see if he could destroy it before another destructive attack could be launched.

All knew that this moment would come -- when the eerie silence from the desolate remains of Vastime finally stopped, and the monsters would resume their offense. The alarms roared through the night, and it took little time for Johann to rise and ready himself. As all prepared for the response to the offensive of the Arrancar, Hollow, and kaiju invaders from the pit, Johann himself had little patience.

Perhaps it was part of the lack of sleep he'd had for several nights, waiting, feeling, knowing that this would come, but part of it was also the severity of the situation. This was why he had come out of retirement, came back to the front, been so hard on ensuring everyone in the Vandenreich was ready for this moment. Everything the last several months had been, was in preparation for this.

Yet, he knew that it was only natural for some to be overwhelmed and panicked by it. He could hear the chaos of all connected to the main channel, and all he could do was pray for their safety, and hope that not too many lives would be lost this time. It was a fruitless wish, but one he would make nonetheless.

'Ancestors, give me strength.'

With Ullr in hand, Johann was quick to make his way to the site of destruction, leaving his comrades to deal with the inevitable swarm of monsters that was sure to come. He spared nothing for this night. Ever near was his Spirit Weapon, but the patriarch was fully armed. Tens of Seele Schneider and Ginto lined his belt, and his Leidan Hant was pulled taut around his hand.

As Alastair rose, Johann was quick to follow. A platform of Reishi manifested under his feet, and with a simple turn to the right, his cane switched from a walking aid to a bow. He nocked an arrow, an icy mist subtly emitting from the projectile, even in the chilled, early hours of the morning. His eyes held the same ice as his arrows, ready to fire without mercy the moment that either of them so much as twitched.

"My my. Look at the greeting party. One who felled the Goliath and an old man."

Safira mused to her companion as their quarry showed up. It was no secret that Alastair had been among the three to destroy the largest of the first wave of what she had decided to refer to as Gran Menos-class (Great Minus) Hollows, something she had just made up right now to be exact.

There was a stillness in the air for a moment, a Mexican standoff it might've looked like but that was not the case. Safira welcomed their retaliation. At least one of their opponents was handsome, she wouldn't mind scarring the redheaded Adonis for the icing on the cake in making an example of them.

From the air she dropped a bit, the free fall maybe even looking like she had surrendered before the sickly green spear formed within her grasp to come out of the fall with extra momentum and launch the cero. It was a green dart to pierce straight through Alastair if he didn't do anything.

Or you know, he could dodge it and let her get some more kills with collateral damage to the ground below. She loved the idea of those ants burning under the light of her reiatsu.

Kizuna could only roll her eyes at the words that left the Quincy's mouth, though she could feel the intensity behind them even at this distance. Surrender? Please, she was never doing anything like that. Her six pylons quickly shot away from her back, spreading themselves wide over the battlefield to give her an ideal array. Her pesquisa echoed between them, and though they would provide her an exceptional advantage for her cero, she wasn't going to utilize them just yet.

It seemed like Safira wanted to really get going here, so Kizuna could only do the same. Taking a sharp breath inward, her arms stretched outward, one hand pointing in each direction as she spoke again, still acting as the more serious one here.

"Damselfly Micro-Massacre."

Countless cero immediately erupted from her hands, each one slender and high-velocity, more akin to needles of energy than a typical cero. That didn't mean they were any less potent than a normal cero, of course, and Kizuna was making a point to give this more than she usually might. There wasn't a ton of opportunity to mess around tonight, after all. This fight was the real deal.

“So be it.”

The pair of Arrancar was wasted little time in continuing their assault, so Alastair’s arrow flew true as it arced across the sky to strike at Kizuna’s ring. The effectiveness of which would be revealed later, as it was the other creature that sought to draw his focus in the immediate. Hurling her virulent spear straight at him rather than spraying the area with needles.

Such impudence to think that he would even attempt to avoid such an attack, and bring destruction upon his comrades, would not be tolerated. So he grabbed one of the silver tubes at his belt and tossed it upwards to meet the incoming attack. Alastair had worked hard to train his spellcraft in recent years, chiefly for enhancing his Vollstandig but that did not come without other uses. For a few moments the silver hung in the air, as he reached out to activate it, before a brilliant circular barrier of Reishi burst free in time to catch the cero. The shield did not last, though, shattering only moments after creation, as the powerful blast was forced outwards and denied its intended target but did break through his defences.

Alastair was certainly sure that he would run out of tubes long before she ran out of ceros, so such an approach was an untenable long term strategy, so he would have to confront her directly and hope that his ally could handle that array of sparks that Kizuna was setting up. There were few members of the Vandenreich that he would trust more with such a task than Administrator Arant, so that emboldened his spirits as a pair of orange wings burst free from his back.

“We must drive them back.”

His voice resonated with austere authority as Alastair entered into the Vollstandig state, his irises vanishing behind a sheen of pure white. Johann was his respected senior and an equal in rank, but there was no time for indecision as he soared upwards to meet Nanash in close combat.

There was no need to repeat what was said. Johann remained silent, his bow trained on Kizuna and firing a frozen arrow of his own at the ring above her head. However, immediately after, his bow shifted to a walking cane, before changing once more to an oval shield the size of his body. At first, his intent was to move and guard his comrade, but his focus was quickly taken by Kizuna's sudden array of needle-like Ceros.

Even though there were many, they all held formidable power in their own right. He was quick to move toward Kizuna, using the shield form of Ullr as a deterrent to the barrage of needle-like Ceros. Some of them were able to be dispersed, some scattered to the sides and fell to the ground, though he tried to adjust his shield's direction so that they would be aimed to where his allies would not be harmed.

As Alastair made his last remark before heading toward Nanash, there was nothing to contest. The goal to drive them back took precedence over everything. Johann simply gave a firm nod, wasting no time as the platform under his feet surged toward Kizuna. The shield quickly swapped to a cane, before back to a bow again as Johann reached for a Seele Schneider from his belt.

Reishi erupted from the weapon as he nocked the arrow, releasing it quickly. It was considerably different arrow compared to the regular ones from his bow. It sought to bore through whatever it touched, and Johann's firm hand allowed it to fly true, aiming for the rope above Kizuna's head. Yet, he was not done.

Forming five more arrows, he pulled the bowstring back. Even with the dexterity he had built over decades of training and ceaseless combat, it was far from an easy task. But, he kept his hand firm and steady, releasing the five arrows simultaneously toward his opponent, each of them expanding and forming a field of ice that would freeze the area of where it made impact.

It was a technique that he had mimicked upon seeing his grandson, Nero, fight in the Vandenreich's tournament -- a fight that, watching it, filled him with pride. It was his battle and accomplishments that had inspired him to imitate it. When this was over, he would speak with him, even if Johann did not deserve such a courtesy.

Ullr Almsima:

"Your efforts will be in vain."

She taunts the red-head who had repelled her attack, it seemed they would split them apart into one on one battles? Divide and conquer did they believe? What folly to think she'd allow that nonsense. So he took to his new form and she cocked her head like she was amused by his display.

The phoenix was immortal but it had to actually burn to ashes before it could reform. She'd gladly help him along to his ashes.

"Vile Lance..."

She generated the spear of reiatsu in her hand, getting ready to launch it at Alastair except she did not release it. Spinning around with the momentum to launch it at Johann for trying to interrupt her comrade. There would be a massacre and she would not let him stop it. If she could take out the old guy then the adonis would have to deal with a proper tagteam.

"Idiots."

As the attacks soared toward Kizuna's resurreccion, the ring of rope abruptly widened itself greatly, the arrows flying through it rather than into its edge and immediately being accosted by the full power of her release. Maybe they were just testing her, seeing what she could do, but showing off a little bit of her ability wasn't something she was too concerned about. Looked like she was handling the old man, and in spite of her serious demeanor, she couldn't help but sneer in her typical way as he came closer, the grim expression she'd worn giving way to the much more typical cocksure grin.

"That it, gramps!?"

Kizuna quickly snapped her fingers, a nail running through her flesh as she did so to draw yet more blood. She could tell this wasn't just some small fry, but she didn't feel like giving that away. The moment the snap was finished, a Gran Rey Cero once again burst forward from her hand, flying through the much larger ring now and splitting into enough shots to clash against the arrows that Johann had sent against her. She wasn't finished, however, and as Safira threw her cero upward toward the old man, Kizuna decided to make things much worse for him.

From its place in the sky, one of her pylons turned to aim itself at Johann, and with only the briefest fanfare, another Gran Rey Cero burst toward him. Two more of the pylons aimed themselves downward at Alastair, intent on keeping him from so easily reaching "Nahash." Safira sure did like to mess around, didn't she? The two pylons fired their cero in unison as the beams fused together, the Mega Break Cannon careening downward with a shriek as it cut through the sky and lit the night sky. All the while, however, her other three pylons had already begun charging stronger, more dangerous cero from their scattered places in the sky, an obvious threat lingering over the heads of her opponents; after all, who was to say she'd even aim them at these two Quincy? She was all too willing to have them simply destroy the weaker solders down below.